Authorities remove black bear from Wayne neighborhood

WAYNE -- A 300-pound black bear spent part of the day in a residential area, where authorities said the bruin was treed before being taken away.

As Allen Drive residents watched late this afternoon, some taking pictures on their cell phones, Wayne police and the Passaic County Sheriff's Department called in the state Division of Fish and Wildlife. Bill Maer, a sheriff's department spokesman, said the state authorities got the bear into a tree, tranquilized it and then removed it from the area.

Before being removed, the year-old bear napped in a few trees, Wayne Lt. Laurence Martin said.

The bruin apparently was unconcerned by the gathering crowd.

State animal-control officers arrived around 7 p.m. and shot the bear with a pair of tranquilizer darts, Martin said. The bear stumbled out of the tree and ran about 20 feet to a nearby fence, Martin said, before it went back to sleep next to a fence.

Officials could not confirm that the bear would be released back into the wild.

Google MapsA 300-pound black bear was taken from an Allen Drive residence in Wayne this evening.

Martin said black bears occasionally make their way into Wayne during the summer months.

"Historically, during this time of the year, the larger bears scoot the juvenile male bears out of their den and we find them. Usually there are young male bears foraging around," Martin said. "Normally we don't ever have problems. They come, they do their own thing and then they leave."